Knitted fabric and process of making the same



Oct. 25, 1949. R. F. w. KRUEGER 2,485,747

KNITTED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 25, 1946 INVENTOR. Rc/qnd Frank VVf/l/m Kru er Patented Oct. 25,1949 KNITTED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Roland Frank WilliamKrueger, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Bamberger-Reinthal Company, a

corporation of Ohio Application September 23, 1946, Serial No. 698,849

4 Claims.

My invention relates to knitted fabrics in general, and relates moreparticularly to knitted fabrics having elastic strands knittedtherewith.

Broadly stated, my invention comprises the improved arrangement ofelastic strands with strands of yarn to produce a knitted fabric havinga face side portion and a rear side portion.

An object of m invention is to provide a fabric having elastic strandstherein, which fabric will contract smoothly without producing awrinkled surface.

Another object of my invention is to provide a knitted fabric havingelastic strands extending along one side thereof.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a knitted fabrichaving a face side and a rear side produced by a plurality of strands,with one portion of each strand forming a portion of the face side, anda second portion of each strand forming a portion of the rear side, andhaving elastic strands along the rear side only of the fabric.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a knitted fabric havinga face side of all yarn, and having a rear side including elasticstrands.

Another object of my invention is to provide a double-knitted fabrichaving a face side portion and a rear side portion with connectingstrands leading from the rear side portion to the front side portion,and having elastic strands interwoven with the rear side portion tocompact the stitches of the rear side portion without materiallyaffecting the face side portion.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of my invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 of the drawing is a greatly enlarged showing of one fundamentalelement of a doubleknitted fabric showing the face stitch of one strandand the cross stitches between two adjacent strands with an elasticstrand interwoven in chain stitches with the cross stitches;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic illustration illustrating the relationship ofthe face stitch and the cross stitches;

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged illustration of the complete fabricshowing the intermeshing of two of the fundamental elements of Figure 1to produce a double-knitted fabric; and

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the relationship of theface stitches and the cross stitches, and the intermeshing of the twofundamental elements to produce the double-knitted fabric.

In producing my knitted fabric, I use the type of knitting machine whichhas guide bars and needles which move alternately to one another; thatis, the guide bars move between and around the needles. Such machinesare of various makes and are constructed with needle bars which are longbars having a plurality of needles at regularly spaced intervalstherealong. These machines are characterized by guide bars which carrythe thread to the needle bars. The needle bars are moved by cams and theguide bars are moved by chains or pattern wheels consisting of lengthsof different heights which through associated mechanisms control themovement of the guide bars and cause the needles to create loops Whichform the knitted fabric.

Although various types of knitted fabrics are made on this type ofmachine, the fabric to which my invention pertains comprises a pluralityof columns each produced by a single strand of yarn. Although the needlebars, comprising a front and a rear needle bar, have a plurality ofknitting needles, each strand of yarn is knitted on only three needles.The strand of yarn is first directed to a needle on the front needle barand knitted; it is then directed to a second needle which is on the backneedle bar, and is then knitted; the strand is then directed back to thefirst needle on the front bar and is then knitted; the yarn is thenguided to a third needle on the back knitting bar and is again knitted.This series of operations is repeated indefinitely to the desired lengthof the fabric being knitted. In other words, the fabric is built up ofsingle strands which are continually looped back and forth between twolateral side limits. The strands are sharply looped at the lateral sidelimits to return the strand to the opposite side. These lateral sideloops are knitted in a cross stitch with similar loops of adjacentstrands in order to bind the plurality of columns into one continuousfabric. Intermediate the two lateral sides, and produced on the secondneedle on the front needle bar, each section of the strand, as itproceeds from one lateral side limit to the other, is interlooped Withan adjacent section of the same strand in a straight stitch.

To more fully explain my invention and the type of fabric to which itis'preferably applied, I refer to the Figure 1 of the drawingillustrating the basic stitch of the fabric, and Figure 3 of the drawingillustrating the completed fabric of two of the basic stitchesillustrated in Figure 1 intermeshed together. In the Figure 1 of thedrawing, the reference character It indicates one continuous strand ofthe yarn used in knitting the the front needle bar and looped. The guidebar then directs the strand I to a needle on the back needle bar. Herethe strand III is guided around the needle on the back needle bar andlooped. The strand I0 is then directed again to the needle on the frontneedle bar and wrapped around the needle and looped. .Then the strandI!) is directed to the second needle on the back bar. The two needles onthe back needle bar are spaced apart a predetermined distance to producea pleasing appearance in the finished fabric. The needle on the frontneedle bar is of course spaced a lateral distance from the two needleson the back needle bar and is equi-distant from the two needles. Thus,the three needles used in producing the basic stitch, illustrated in theFigure 1 are in a triangular relationship, with the two needles on theback needle bar constituting the base of the triangle, and the oneneedle on the front needle bar constituting the apex of the triangle.

The sets of three needles, as hereinbefore described, constitute a basicthree needles for producing the stitch indicated in the Figure 1. Thisset of three needles may be considered as being repeated along theneedle bars to a distance sufficient to produce the desired width offabric. That is, although the needles on each bar appear to be instraight lines of evenly spaced needles, in their operation theyfunction in sets of three. However, these sets of three are cooperativein their function. That is, the two needles on the back bar to which thethread It is directed are also used by the next adjacent strands I I andI2. Therefore, as the strand I 0 is directed to the first needle on theback needle bar, it produces a column indicated by the arrow and thereference character I3. As the strand I0 is then directed to the needleon the front needle bar to produce a stitch indicated by the arrow andthe reference character I4, the strand I2 is directed to the needleproducing the column I3. Thus, the strand I2 and the strand III areinterwoven as indicated in the column I3 of the Figure l, The sameoperation is carried out between the strand I I and the strand II] andis indicated by the arrow and the reference character I5. It is to benoted, then, that the columns I3 and I are produced by cross stitchingadjacent strands together, whereas the column I4 is produced byinterlacing adjacent portions of the same strand together.

Although a fabric could be made as hereinbefore described, the fabricwould be of only single thickness and would be somewhat ridged in formas indicated by the diagrammatic view of Figure 2. The diagrammatic viewof Figure 2 is similar to a cross-sectional view. In the diagrammaticFigure 2, the column I4 is shown as a straight fiat line, and the crossstitch columns I3 and I5 are indicated by the concentric circles. Thepositions of the columns I3, I4 and I5 are similar to the relativepositions of the needles on the needle bars producing the stitch. Thatis, the column I3 is produced on a first needle on the back needle bar,and the column I4 is produced on the apex needle on the front needlebanand the column I5 in turn is produced on the second needle on theback needle bar. In this illustration of Figure 2, only the threestrands I0, ,II and [2 are discussed, but the remainlngstrandsil- 4lustrate the same process is carried out to the desired width of thefabric. The strand I0 is looped back and forth between the needlesproducing the columns I3 and I5 and is interlooped with itself in astraight stitch by a needle producing the column I4. Thus, each sectionof yarn illustrated between the concentric circles is one continuousstrand of yarn looping continually back and forth laterally between theconcentric circles.

Referring now to the Figure 3 of the drawing, I illustrate the completefabric to which my invention is preferably applied. This fabric consistssimply of two of the fundamental stitches illustrated in the Figures 1and 2 intermeshed together. The Figure 3 is drawn in perspective andillustrates the respective forward and rear position of the columns [3,I4 and I5. In producing the complete fabric as illustrated in the Figure3, a third needle is employed on the back needle bar intermediate theneedles producing the columns I3 and I5. This needle produces the columnI6. Also, two additional needles are employed on the front needle oneither side of the needle producing the column I4, and these needlesproduce respectively the columns indicated by the arrow and referencecharacter I! and the column indicated by the arrow and the referencecharacter I8. Thus, the needles in sets of triangles are actuallyoverlapping as indicated by the arrangement of the strands in thediagrammatic illustration of Figure 4. There, it can be seen, that thefundamental stitch as illustrated in the Figure 2 and producing thecolumns I3, I4 and I5 are overlapped by a similar set of basic stitchesindicated by the reference characters I6, I1 and I8. This completedfabric amounts to two of the single knitted fabrics as indicated in theFigure 1 intermeshed together to form a complete fabric. The strandproducing the column I! is indicated by the reference character 20 andthe strand producing the column I8 is indicated by the referencecharacter 2I. The strands 20 and 2| are cross stitched to produce thecolumn I6, in exactly the same manner as hereinbefore described toproduce the column I3 by cross stitching the strands Ill and I2 or thecolumn I5 by cross stitching the strands III and II. I

My invention, as applied to the specific type of fabric illustratedcomprises directing a strand of elastic material 22 to one of theneedles on the back needle bar forming the cross stitches. I That is,whereas the strand I0, for example, is directed to three differentneedles including the needle forming the column I3 and the needleforming the column I5, I guide the elastic strand to one of theseneedles only. For example, as illustrated in the Figure 3, I have guidedthe elastic strands 22 to the needles forming the columns of crossstitches I3 and I5. Thus, the elastic strands 22 are chain stitchedalong with the cross stitches of the columns I3 and I5.

It will be readily apparent from the Figure. 3, that the elastic strand22 will draw the cross stitches of the columns I3 and I5 tightlytogether, but this efiect on the stitches of the columns will notmaterially affect the stitches of the columns I 4, I! or I8 on the faceside of the cloth because of the relatively long strands leading betweenthe column on the face side and those on the rear side. Therefore, whencompletely relaxed, the columns I3 and I5 will be closely compactedbecause of the effect of the elastic strand 22, but the face columnswill :be substantially unaffected.

In actual practice, for sweater bands and like applications, I directstrands of elastic material 22 to every alternate column on the rearside of the fabric rather than to every column, because the desiredelastic condition of the fabric is sufficiently brought about byapplying the elastic strand only to every other cross-stitch column. Inother words, if the elastic strand 22 were applied to every rear columnof cross stitches, the fabric would be too strong in its elasticcharacteristics for most uses. Thus, the elastic strand 22 may beconsidered as being applied to one single basic stitch of the fabric,such for example as that illustrated in the Figure 1 of the drawings,and not being applied to the intermeshing portion as illustrated in theFigure 3.

I have found applying the elastic strand 22 longitudinally in chainstitches along with the column of cross stitches on the rear side of thecloth, that an improved fabric suitable for waist bands, tails, cuffs,and the like, of sweaters is produced. This fabric has thecharacteristic of being elastic in the direction of columns of stitches,but being only normally resilient and stretchable to a slight extentcrosswise to the column. That is, in the double fabric as illustrated,Without the use of the elastic strand 22, the fabric would be looselycompacted and therefore would be somewhat resilient and stretchableeither longitudinally or horizontally with respect to the columns ofstitches. However, by placing the elastic strand 22 in chain stitchesalong with the columns of cross stitches on the rear side of the cloth,the columns on the rear side of the fabric become closely compacted, andthe columns on the face side of the fabric become somewhat more closelycompacted than normal, but the entire fabric is no more substantiallyclosely compacted horizontally with respect to the columns than it wouldnormally be. Therefore, the fabric is quite elastic in nature and may beextended for some distance in the direction of the columns of stitches,but is only normally stretchable in the lateral direction with respectto the columns.

Also, by placing the elastic strand 22 as described, I have found thatthe face side of the fabric is virtually unwrinkled. As beforeexplained, this desirable condition is brought about because of theflexible nature of the portions of the strands between the crossstitches and the straight stitches on the face of the fabric. That is,the cross stitches on the rear of the cloth can be closely compacted bythe elastic strand 22 without materially affecting the face stitches.

Although I have described my invention in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of exampleand that numerous changes in the details of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A knitted fabric having a face side and a rear side, said fabriccomprising a plurality of inelastic strands, a portion of each saidinelastic strand comprising straight stitches forming said face side, aportion of each said inelastic strand comprising cross stitches with anadjacent inelastic strand and forming said rear side, and a plurality ofelastic strands chain stitched with the cross stitches on the rear side.

2. A knitted fabric having a face side and a rear side, said fabriccomprising a plurality of inelastic strands, a portion of each saidinelastic strand comprising straight stitches forming said face side, aportion of each said strand comprising cross stitches with an adjacentstrand and forming said rear side, and elastic strands interstitchedwith the portion of the inelastic strands comprising the cross stitcheson the rear side.

3. Process of knitting an elastic fabric having a face side and a rearside, comprising the steps of knitting the face side and the rear siderespectively with straight stitches and cross stitches of inelasticstrands, and stitching an elastic strand with the cross stitches on therear side.

4. Process of knitting an elastic fabric having a face side and a rearside, comprising the steps of knitting the face side and the rear siderespectively with straight stitches and cross stitches of inelasticstrands, and chain stitching an elastic strand with the cross stitcheson the rear side.

ROLAND FRANK WILLIAM KRUEGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,054,233 Mueller Feb. 25, 19132,114,004 Reinthal Apr. 12, 1938 2,147,169 Mendel et al Feb. 14, 19392,150,133 Seidel Mar. '7, 1939 2,323,396 Hayto et al July 6, 1943 OTHERREFERENCES Lehrbuch fur Anfanger auf der Raschelmaschine, by Kunze andKnobloch, published by Robert Birkner, Evers and Co., Apolda, Thuringen,1925, page '73.

